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Palm Coast Man, 53, Faces Felony Charge for Threatening to Kill Ex-Restaurant Boss’ Son

June 7, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Marcello Moretto.
Marcello Moretto.

Six years ago Marcello L. Moretto was charged with domestic battery by strangulation in an incident involving his girlfriend of six months, with the woman’s 11-year-old daughter in the house. He was accused of slamming the woman’s head on the ground. The woman, who had been his fiancee, was trying to end the relationship after what she described to deputies as violence that had “progressively gotten worse.” The woman told deputies she was in fear for her life, wanted Moretto out of the house–but not in court.

Moretto, speaking to the deputy on the way to jail, attributed the incident to a misunderstanding and said he loved the woman. The third-degree felony charge was dropped two weeks later.




On Friday, Moretto, 53, was arrested on a second-degree felony charge of written threats to “conduct an act of terrorism” after allegedly threatening his former employer that he would kill the employer’s son. “Well it’s been over a month now and guess what? Your son is still a Putz,” Moretto  is said to have written the employer–a Palm Coast restaurant. “If I ever see him I’m gonna kill him tell him that. No one talks to me that way.” Moretto had worked at the restaurant four years before walking off the job in mid-April, according to his arrest report.

The target of the alleged threats was not aware that they’d been leveled, and told deputies he was in fear for his safety because of could encounter Moretto in public, and the business was not far from where Moretto lives.

When deputies met with Moretto in person at his home, on Claridge Court in Palm Coast, he “became very agitated and loud with deputies and banged his hand on the pillar outside,” according to the deputy’s report. He accused his former employer of being mean to his employees and him, and acknowledged sending the threatening text. “But I did not mean it like that” he said. The report goes on: When Moretto “was asked to clarify what he meant by the text message, he kept repeating himself.”

The arrest–and the charge–followed the familiar pattern that has seen numerous students of all ages, some in elementary school, getting arrested on the same felony charge for making similar threats by text or social media over the past two years. State law was changed, and such threats elevated to second-degree felonies (and termed “terrorist” threats) in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland in 2018, in which 17 people were killed and 17 injured.




In almost every case of arrests locally, the students have claimed that they did not mean their threats to be taken seriously. And in every case, Sheriff Rick Staly has repeated that no such threats can be made, even jokingly, and not be taken seriously. He’s implored residents to be mindful of their language on social media and in texts to avoid getting into situations that leave authorities no choice but to make arrests under the law, and level the felony charge. In almost all instances, students end up processed by the Department of Juvenile Justice before being returned to their parents pending court proceedings. They end up facing, at most, probation.

Moretto was booked at the county jail on $1,500 bond, which he posted, and ordered to have no contact with the victim or his father. He was not ordered to surrender firearms, as is sometimes the case with felony charges.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Eva says

    June 7, 2021 at 7:59 pm

    And why would he not be ordered to surrender firearms?? SMH

    Reply
    • Monica says

      June 8, 2021 at 4:31 pm

      Something called “White male privilege”

      Reply
      • Thatguy says

        June 9, 2021 at 4:18 pm

        I’ve lost mine and I’m a white guy… comments like that are what’s wrong with our racial injustices..
        Monica what can you say about my situation?

        Reply
  2. ASF says

    June 7, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    Just the kind of hot-head you want to see in possession of firearms. NOT!

    Reply
  3. Jimbo99 says

    June 7, 2021 at 10:33 pm

    Sounds like a bad day at work where egos and tempers flared for a walk out. When you do that, move on from it. We’ve all had an abusive boss at one point or another. Who knows if there is an industry black listing going on. Employers are like that. All one needs to do is look at the dysfunctional county & city government with the recent resignations. Those folks can’t even get along with each other in meetings. I’m more shocked that some haven’t been taken out of those chambers by FCSO in handcuffs yet.

    Reply
  4. Here2stay20 says

    July 7, 2021 at 12:57 pm

    There seems to be a lot of discrepancies when it comes to charges, bond and how individuals are treated in Florida with regards to this violation of Florida’s law. I would love to know why that is ,as there have been previous individuals charged with the same crime and the difference in the bond set and treatment of individuals are so obviously different. ..it is alarming and sad at the same time. Sadly…enough the individuals are not of this “white privileged” as a poster said earlier. Which seems to be a running theme in Florida. I think no one wants to acknowledge that many blacks are treated far different than their counterparts in Florida when it comes to crimes.. All the news outlets would have to do is go back and look at similar cases and find it to be true. Where is the justice in that??!!!

    Reply

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